AssA-Irada, Azerbaijan
May 6 2009

ISRAEL REJECTS ARMENIAN GENOCIDE CLAIMS

The Israeli government has rejected allegations on the so-called
genocide of Armenians, a claim on the World War I-era mass killings in
the Ottoman Empire. Tel-Aviv passed a decision indicating that the
government and parliament were no places for leveling genocide claims,
Turkeys Milliyet (Nation) newspaper said. On April 24, the day
considered by Armenians as the date marking the alleged massacres,
Israeli lawmaker Haim Oron submitted a bill calling to recognize the
genocide to the legislature. However, Gilad Erdan, the country’s
Minister of Environmental Protection, said while unveiling the
governments position that discussing the issue would be out of
place. Commemorating the Armenians killed is our moral
responsibility. But this issue should be discussed openly on the basis
of historical data, and parliament is not a place for such a
discussion, Erdan said. The government in Yerevan has accused Turkey
of genocide against Armenians in the latter years of the Ottoman
Empire, which preceded modern Turkey. The Turkish government says the
developments were part of the clashes that related to Armenian groups
supporting Russia against Turkey during World War I. Ankara insists
the killings were not orchestrated by the Ottoman government and
Turkish President Abdullah Gul has proposed opening Ottoman archives
to international scholars to try to resolve the dispute.